October 06, 2010

City Clerk and mayoral candidate Miguel del Valle is introducing a resolution today calling on the City Council to allow voters to voice their opinions on whether Chicago should allow video gambling.

Del Valle called for a referendum to be added to the Feb. 22 municipal election ballot asking voters "Shall the City Council continue to prohibit video gambling in Chicago?"

The city's municipal code currently prohibits video gambling, but an ordinance to change the code was introduced to the council early this year. State lawmakers legalized video poker last year, but allowed cities to opt out of it. Getting video poker up and running in Illinois has been delayed for various reasons.

"All I'm recommending is that before further action is taken on that ordinance we should give residents a chance to be heard on this matter," del Valle said in a news release.

Del Valle said he's opposed to video gambling in the city, which he said is a "bad deal" for Chicagoans.

"You would have people leaving their paychecks in bars" if video gambling was legalized around the city, del Valle said.

Chicagoans want more of a voice in major decisions like this, del Valle said, arguing that advisory referendums should become more common.

Though the results of the referendum would not be binding, del Valle predicted a majority of Chicago voters would oppose video gambling, and that the City Council would acquiesce to voters' wishes on the matter.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

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Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.